Dems: 'Nothing wrong with makeup of Idaho Redistricting Commission'

Idaho Democrats issued a response today to a statement from the Idaho Republican Party calling for re-examining the makeup of the bipartisan citizen redistricting commission. "There’s nothing wrong with the makeup of the Idaho Redistricting Commission,” said Larry Grant, Idaho Democratic Party chairman. “The commission worked last time and it would have worked this time if the Republicans wanted it to. The real problem is that the Republicans are just not satisfied with the 80% of the legislature they already have.” Click below for the Dems' full statement.

News release from the Idaho Democratic Party

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: September 8, 2011

Republicans Sink Redistricting Commission

"There’s nothing wrong with the makeup of the Idaho Redistricting Commission,” State Democratic Chair Larry Grant said. “The commission worked last time and it would have worked this time if the Republicans wanted it to. The real problem is that the Republicans are just not satisfied with the 80% of the legislature they already have.”

Yesterday, less than a day after the Idaho Redistricting Commission failed to reach agreement on new plans for Idaho’s legislative and congressional districts, the Republican commissioners sued. In the suit, as well as in their press releases, the Republicans have claimed that it is unfortunate an agreement could not be reached. “The truth of the matter,” Grant said, “is that the Republican commissioners are the ones who blocked the commission’s success.”

Grant went on to say, “Even before the Redistricting Commission was appointed, we heard rumors that the Republicans planned to deadlock the commission, and that’s exactly what they did. Our Democratic Commissioners went far beyond compromising to reach an agreement, but at each step of the process, when Democrats offered solutions to Republican concerns, the Republicans simply refused to come to terms.

“The fact is,” Grant stated, “the commission failed because the Republicans wanted it to. The Idaho Republican Party Platform calls for returning redistricting to the legislature. It is now clear that they want the commission to fail as part of that agenda.”